In the last twelve months alone, there have been no less than three REIT mergers.
The third merger, still to be concluded, involves two of the oldest REITs listed on the stock exchange, CapitaLand Mall Trust and CapitaLand Commercial Trust to form a new REIT called CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust.This wave of mergers signals the need for REITs to consolidate their operations to achieve cost savings and to scale up quickly in size.
Benefit 1: DPU and NAV accretiveThe merger will result in a slight bump up in the distribution per unit and net asset value of the enlarged REIT. For ESR-REIT, it retained S$7 million out of its S$47.8 million worth of distributable income due to COVID-19, or about 14.6%; while Sabana REIT retained a much larger proportion of 55% of its distributable income of S$11.1 million, choosing to pay out just S$4.98 million.Benefit 2: Reduction in tenant concentration riskESR-REIT currently owns 57 properties with an asset size of S$3.2 billion, while Sabana REIT’s portfolio consists of 18 properties worth S$0.9 billion.
Benefit 3: A lower overall cost of debtREITs rely on borrowings to fund their operations, and their usual modus operandi is to roll over their debt, rather than paying it off.The REIT can save on finance costs and use these savings for enhancing assets or to boost its DPU.Sabana REIT’s S$300 million debt is earmarked for replacement with a new loan that is worth S$400 million at a lower cost of debt of just 2.5%.
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